Minestrone

This is based on Jamie Olivers minestrone from his 15 minute meals book. Rather than following his recipe to the letter we just used it as the base for ours.

Serves 2 easily

Start by frying a chopped red onion, diced stick of celery and diced carrot in olive oil in a deep pan. After they have softened slightly, add 2 cloves of crushed garlic, the leaves from a small bunch of thyme and a couple of bay leaves.

Add 1L of hot chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

Dice two chicken breasts or 3 boneless thighs into bite sized chunks and them to the hot stock, along with a large handful of small pasta shapes. Then add some broccoli and cauliflower florets and continue to simmer for 5 minutes or so.

In the meantime, prepare the accompaniments...

Make the salsa verde by blitzing herbs (we used parsley, basil and chives) with 4 cornichons, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tea sp capers, 1 tea sp of dijon mustard, 2 anchovies and a good glug of olive oil.

Dry fry a few rashers of pancetta with some rosemary and some chunks of slightly stale bread until they are crispy and browned.

Grate or shave some fresh parmesan into a bowl for scattering on the top.

As soon as the pasta shapes are cooked, the soup should be ready to serve. Let people add the toppings to their bowl at the table.

Lime and paprika chicken

This is easy Spring/Summer food, peferct for bbq's or an after work dinner with whatever salad bits you've got in the fridge. Marinade the chicken the night before or before you go to work if you can, otherwise an hour before you're due to eat it is fine.

Place de-boned chicken thighs in a bowl with olive oil, crushed garlic, the juice of one lime and plenty of smoked paprika. Add some dried chilli flakes for extra kick if you like. When you're ready to grill/griddle/bbq the chicken, season it with plenty of salt and pepper first before cooking the chicken fast on a high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with a little extra paprika once cooked if you like.

We had ours with garlic and parsley corn on the cob and a warm herby new potato, green bean, spinach, onion and tomato smush. It tasted a lot nicer than it sounds!

Warm chicken, squash and pesto salad

Use left over chicken from a roast dinner for this.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 small squash or two sweet potatoes

cooked chicken

mixed salad leaves

2 tbl sp pesto (fresh pesto is best for this)

1 sprig of rosemary

small bunch of thyme

1 clove of garlic

olive oil

- Peel the squash and dice into chunks. Place in a roasting dish with the herbs, whole garlic clove and a splash of olive oil. Roast in a pre heated oven for about an hour.

- Mix the cooked chicken with the pesto so it's evenly coated and add it to the roasting pan with the squash for the last 5 minutes of cooking time to heat through.

- Serve the warm chicken and squash on mixed salad leaves and garnish with some shaved parmesan if you like.

Nasi Goreng

We use cooked rice for this - either cooked ourselves and then cooled or one of those microwave pouches of cooked rice. You could use whatever veg takes your fancy in this. We tend to use either strips of lean pork or chicken and prawns in ours.

Ingredients (serves 2):

cooked rice

2-3 chicken thighs, diced

handful of prawns

1 onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

4 spring onions, chopped

1 chilli, chopped

1cm piece ginger, minced

1 green pepper, chopped (optional)

1 courgette, chopped (optional)

6 mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 tea sp curry powder

1/4 tea sp ground coriander

1/4 tea sp ground cumin

sesame oil

soy sauce

1 egg

• In a little sesame oil fry the onion, garlic, mushrooms and peppers for a couple of minutes, then add the chilli, ginger and spring onions.
• Brown the chicken pieces in a separate pan and then add them to the veg. At this stage you can also add the curry powder, coriander and cumin.
• Continue to fry the chicken and vegetables for another couple of minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
• At this stage add the prawns, peas and a splash of soy sauce.
• Beat the egg and make a plain omellette. Cut it into strips and set it aside.
• Add the cooked rice to the chicken and veg and season to taste and then add another splash of sesame oil. Stir everything well and make sure the rice is hot.
• Garnish with the omelette strips and serve.

Caesar salad

This is our version. We've not added anchovy fillets here but you could.

Ingredients (serves 2):
A couple of handfuls of cos and romaine lettuce
1 cooked chicken breast, diced
2 rashers of smoked bacon
4 quails eggs
croutons
caeser dressing (bought or homemade)
shaved parmesan

• Mix the sliced cooked chicken with the lettuce leaves
• Grill the bacon and cut it into bite sized pieces before adding to the salad
• Meanwhile, cook the quails eggs in boiling water for one minute, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for one minute
• Remove the eggs from the water. Peel them carefully and slice them in half
• Add the halved quails eggs, croutons, parmesan and dressing to the salad
• Eat whilst the bacon and quails eggs are still warm
  

Chicken soup with dumplings

Even though we cheated with ready made stock and dumplings it was very very nice. And it was a work night so a little cheating is allowed!

Ingredients (for 2 large bowls with a little leftover):

4 chicken legs

approx 800ml good quality chicken stock

1 carrot, diced

1 onion, diced

3 celery sticks, diced

bay leaf and a pinch of dried thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

dumpling mix or ready made dumplings

• Pre heat oven to 200 degrees
• Roast the chicken legs for approx 30-40 minutes until cooked
• Meanwhile, add the diced carrot, onion and celery with a splash of olive oil to a large saucepan and cook on quite a high heat until softened
• Once the chicken legs are cooked, pull the meat off the bones and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Put the meat in a bowl and set aside.
• Add the chicken leg bones to the sauteed veg and then add the stock and herbs. Leave to simmer on a low ish heat for approx 30 minutes.
• Remove the chicken bones and bay leaf from the soup and add in the diced chicken and dumplings. Correct seasoning and leave to simmer with a lid on for 5 minutes.